Miscellaneous

Structural Imitation Vehicle Parts Outted As Unsafe

By E L Eversman

After twenty years of wrangling and being told that imitation vehicle replacement parts are as good as original equipment parts (the parts the car maker uses and approves) and hearing epithets such as “like, kind, and quality”, some members of the collision industry and one of the auto makers has had enough. They’ve put together some tests to compare actual vehicle parts and their imitation counterparts, and what those tests show is downright scary.

ConsumerReports is also warning people about the potential danger of allowing insurance companies to talk them in to having their vehicles repaired with these imitation parts. ConsumerReports warns that using these parts in a vehicle’s repair can materially interfere with important safety measures like whether the airbag deploys at the correct time to save your life — or whether it will deploy a millisecond too early or late and crush your chest or head like pumpkin on Halloween night.

Ford Motor Company posted a video on YouTube comparing some imitation parts to their genuine Ford counterparts, pointing out the significant differences — oh, little things like Ford’s part is make of cast magnesium and the cheap imitation part is made of plastic, and don’t let me forget that you can saw through the aftermarket part like its a turkey cooked for Thanksgiving.

While many insurers have put a moratorium on demanding the use of these imitation parts in upcoming collision repairs, what about all the vehicles that currently are driving around with these unsafe parts already installed on them? Insurers typically say they guarantee these parts. Why aren’t insurers issuing recalls to make sure the parts they talked people in to having installed on their vehicles are replaced with ones that function as the car is designed to do? What good are those guarantees now?

Full post as published by AutoMuse on October 25, 2010 (boomark / email).